Gov. Andrew Cuomo achieved a political victory earlier this year when he reached an agreement to shutter the Indian Point nuclear facility. While Cuomo has repeatedly claimed that the nuclear plant’s electricity can be replaced with other sources of “clean” energy starting in 2020, the hard reality is that renewables won’t do the trick.

Worse, the state is well on its way to a self-imposed shortage of natural gas-fired generation, despite the governor’s April 11 statement to the editorial board of the Buffalo News supporting natural gas pipelines, “as long as they’re done well and they’re done correctly.”

Consider the numbers. According to data published by the New York Independent System Operator, the independent entity that operates the state’s high-voltage transmission grid and coordinates generating-plant operations, in 2015 all of the wind turbines in the state together generated less than one-fourth as much electricity as Indian Point.

What about offshore wind? It costs at least twice as much as onshore wind. The one contract that has been signed is an agreement between Deepwater Wind and the Long Island Power Authority for a project that would provide less than 5 percent of Indian Point’s capacity. And the price is still secret.

How about solar power? In 2015, there was one utility-scale solar plant in the entire state. It produced as much electricity in all of 2015 as Indian Point produces on a typical day.

Water power? Supposedly, by 2021, the $2 billion Champlain-Hudson transmission line will be delivering electricity from Quebec to the New York City area. But no contracts have been signed, so the price isn’t known.

Instead, much of Indian Point’s output will have to be replaced by two natural gas-fired generating plants in southeastern New York. The first, the 650-megawatt CPV Valley plant in Wayawanda, is under construction and is supposed to be online next February. The second, the 1,100-megawatt Cricket Valley plant in Dover, is scheduled to begin construction shortly and come online in 2020. Together, these two plants could replace over three-fourths of Indian Point’s 2,000 megawatts of generating capacity.

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But natural gas-fired generating plants require natural gas, which must be delivered via pipelines. And therein lies the major problem: The state has been, and continues to be, loath to allow any new natural-gas pipelines to be constructed. And the Department of Environmental Conservation is proving to be especially recalcitrant in issuing the necessary permits to enable natural gas to be delivered to the pipes — or anywhere else in the state.

And that brings us back to the governor’s Indian Point “victory.” To deliver natural gas to CPV Valley, Millennium Pipeline Company must build an 8-mile-long spur from its main pipeline. But before construction can begin, Millennium needs a water quality permit from the state. And although Millennium has applied for the permit, the DEC has sat on its hands for over a year, neither approving nor disapproving the permit.

The dispute has moved to the DC Court of Appeals. Millennium argues that the state’s lack of action on the permit means that the permit is effectively approved. The DEC argues that Millennium’s original application was incomplete. Unless the court rules for Millennium in the next few months, construction of the spur won’t be completed by next February. And the state could still simply turn down the request.

This obstruction is nothing new. The agency refused to grant permits for the proposed 124-mile Constitution Pipeline, which would link Marcellus shale resources in Pennsylvania to the Iroquois and Tennessee Pipelines in upstate New York. (The denial of those permits is before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.)

And on April 7, the DEC denied a water quality permit for the Northern Access Pipeline, which would have also brought low-cost natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York.

The agency must not believe any of the proposed pipelines meet the governor’s new “done well and done correctly” standard, which supposedly weighs potential environmental harm against the number of permanent jobs a new pipeline will create. What about the benefits of lower-cost natural gas to New York consumers and businesses, including the potential for creating new jobs? Never mind.

As for Cricket Valley, it’s supposed to connect to the Iroquois Pipeline, which also goes through Dover. But Iroquois has no spare capacity. Thus, not only will Iroquois have to apply for the necessary state permits to build a spur to the Cricket Valley plant, but it’ll have to get permission to expand capacity. Knowing the state, don’t hold your breath.

What Cuomo’s new Clean Energy Standard might mean in reality: Hold on to your wallet — and grab a flashlight.

Jonathan A. Lesser is president of Continental Economics and author of a Manhattan Institute report on the impact of closing Indian Point.